1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to information display and input apparatus and, more precisely, to combined display and input devices which are used for combination equipment incorporating a plurality of information processing modules having independent operation modes, such as copiers and facsimiles.
2. Discussion of Background
In the past, electronic equipment which processes picture image information for multiple purposes or functions, such as copying and printing, was assembled and used as a group of discrete and independent devices. However, with current advances in technology, combination equipment which incorporates these multiple functions is now coming into practical use.
However, in such combination equipment, the construction of a unit for inputting operation information and a display device for exhibiting output information becomes complex and diverse, since a number of differing types of functions are combined in a single piece of equipment.
Most conventional combined display and input devices constituting control panels for executing input operations for such combination equipment were constructed by combining a button-key system input unit having a number of rows of button-keys with a display unit which uses liquid crystals or LEDs for displaying operation information.
Moreover, in the copy mode of an apparatus using this type of control panel, problems occur when executing magnification alteration operations such as enlargement and reduction of the picture image to be copied. Conventional display devices display the magnification alteration information accompanying these operations by characters (e.g. 120%, 80%) or the like. Such magnification alteration information is easily misread. As a result, copy paper is wasted due to operating errors such as executing a reduction operation when an enlargement operation was desired, and vice versa.
This type of problem occurs not only in the copy mode, but also in other operations, such as printing, which also employs a magnification alteration operation.
As described above, conventional equipment employs display and input devices having many input keys and wide area for displaying many kinds of information. It is thus difficult to accurately check the operation information being supplied as input. Also, misunderstanding easily occurs in the display mode such that magnification alteration information operation errors are likely to occur, resulting in losses.